Bike News Roundup: The heartbreaking loss of a stolen bike

It’s the weekly roundup of bikeish news from around the city and globe. If you saw anything you’d like to share, please do so in the comments below.

First up, the beautiful story of a heartbreaking bike theft. Remember how someone stole Naomi’s bike a couple days ago? Well, she has been reunited with her wheels! In fact, the whole incident has already been made into dramatic reenactment (well, ok, not really):bike ♥ from Rick Darge on Vimeo.

A journalist in Toronto who wrote an anti-biking column a few months ago gave biking a shot and completely changed his tune. It’s all about shared experience. If you can’t imagine yourself biking, you can’t understand why people who bike do what they do. Once on the road, common bicycling behavior suddenly makes more sense.

If you are counting on your bicycle to get you through the American zombie apocalypse, you better start stockpiling bike parts in your bike shop bunker….

Taxis in San Francisco can now legally load and unload passengers in the bike lane.

Advocates for the disabled voice concerns about planned parking-separated bike lane in Golden Gate Park. This has not been a problem in other cities that have the lanes (though cities should always make extra sure they have not made the environment worse for people with access issues).

That UPS story is cool. The delivery by bicycle rate was very similar to that of the vans. I wonder if it’s because during Christmas there are so many packages that the locations are close together which makes a bicycle delivery as efficient as the van. The only drawback I could see is the packages are a bit more susceptible to theft out of the trailer, and the need for a giant tarp/bag to keep everything dry on rainy days. Both problems could be fixed with a lightweight cargo box. You don’t have to worry about it being broken into, just cut down the grab and run theft.

I remember getting a package delivered to my house in Ballard by a UPS delivery person who was cycling (with trailer) a couple years ago around the holidays. I called up UPS and paid them a compliment for contributing to cleaner air and a quieter neighborhood atmosphere. I hope this trend expands to be a year round occurence in Seattle and Portland–especially in dense neighborhoods where it really is just as fast as having a truck.